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Matthew Hayden and Damien Martyn walked disconsolately from the
ground at Old Trafford on Monday as Australia fought to save the
third Ashes Test - but for very different reasons.

Hayden was downcast because he lost an engrossing battle with a
wonderful cricketer at the top of his game, Andrew Flintoff, but
Martyn's dismay was less self-inflicted as he was given out lbw to
a ball he seemed to hit.

When Simon Katich and Adam Gilchrist joined Martyn, Hayden and
Justin Langer in the pavilion after both falling to Flintoff,
Australia were in serious, imminent danger of conceding a 2-1
deficit in the series with two Tests to play.

Captain Ricky Ponting was trying valiantly to guide the tourists
to tea with a platform to survive the last session. The skipper had
81 as Australia neared the 200 mark, but he lost partners at steady
intervals as Flintoff and co induced false shots, and before tea
the unfit Michael Clarke arrived as the last specialist
batsman.

Chasing 423 to win but realistically trying to force a draw,
Australia's hopes took a huge blow when umpire Steve Bucknor agreed
with Steve Harmison's appeal and gave Martyn out for 19. Ponting,
at the other end, seemed to make a protest to Bucknor after the
decision.

The skipper's anger would have deepened after Katich, batting at
No.5, was held by Ashley Giles at third slip and Gilchrist, after a
scratchy four, drove to gully.

It was all down to Flintoff, who had already worked Hayden over
with a relentless spell of fast, awkward seam bowling. The
Queenslander was struggling, within Australia's bigger quest to
extend their 16-year grip on the Ashes urn, to emerge from a
frustrating period that now comprises 28 innings without passing
70.

In July last year, a relaxed Hayden at peace with the world made
two centuries against Sri Lanka in the tropical surrounds of
Cairns. He has since reached 50 only five times, and here he looked
frustrated and out of kilter.

Flintoff, the burly Lancastrian who is coming to define the
Ashes series, flirted with the outside edge of Hayden's bat and the
occasional edge flew just wide of the slips fielders.

But after a series of brilliant, jagging deliveries, Flintoff
got one ball to shoot past Hayden's legs and into leg stump. Hayden
made 36 and is the only member of the top six from either side not
to have cracked a half-century this series.

England's bowling was as hostile as ever during this series -
Martyn was smashed by a steepling bouncer by Harmison - after the
Australians resumed at 0-24 needing a further 399 to win.

Langer had fallen on the first ball of the second over of the
day to unsung swing bowler Matthew Hoggard, after the opening pair
survived 10 overs in fading light the previous evening. In an early
blow for a team striving to avoid going 2-1 down ahead of the
fourth Test at Trent Bridge, Hoggard found the outside edge of
Langer's bat and wicketkeeper Geraint Jones took the catch.

McGrath expressed the team's confidence in the leadership of
Ponting after a taxing fourth day, when century-maker Andrew
Strauss and Ian Bell took the game away from Australia. At one
stage on Sunday Ponting was pictured with his head down and Shane
Warne's arm around his shoulders after one of several mid-pitch
discussions between senior players.

Earlier the Australians had reacted angrily to a report of an
argument between Ponting and Warne that was dismissed as "a blatant
lie" by McGrath. But Ponting has come under scrutiny for sending
England in to bat at Edgbaston and for the way he has managed the
bowling.

McGrath said Ponting was a consultative captain and it was
normal for him to receive advice from senior players on the
field.

"I think he's still going well," said McGrath, who took five
English wickets in the second innings on a "dodgy foot", and who
expects to feel stronger on his ankle at Trent Bridge. "If the team
has a couple of bad games it's always the captain that seems to get
targeted. The Birmingham wicket, there was a lot of talk beforehand
that it was definitely a wicket to bowl on. As it turned out it was
probably a wicket to bat on, that's the way it goes.

"When things aren't quite coming off, we're not holding our
catches, things are going against us, it can look worse than it is.
At the moment all the guys have total faith in Ricky and the way he
captains out on the field, he's another player out there. He gets a
lot of advice from the senior players so he will be fine."

On another shaky day in the field for Australia, Ponting and
Warne failed to pick up a ball as it sailed between them in the
slips. Strauss was on one at the time.

McGrath said claims of a rift between captain and spin bowler
were completely untrue. "I think it's quite funny, probably not
funny as in 'ha ha'," McGrath said of the story that claimed Warne
had confronted Ponting about the Edgbaston toss.

"I've been around the changerooms the whole time and I haven't
heard or seen anything like that so it's disappointing that it's
actually in the papers when it never happened."

Strauss, with a wad of white plaster stuck to his bloodied ear,
became the latest Englishman to prove he could do the business when
he raised his sixth Test ton.

He composed himself from being cut by Brett Lee to make 106 and
build a huge lead for England.